Krank amp users out there lets talk.

[mantis]

I've been dealing with this issue for months now and I can't seem to figure it out.
I have a krank Revolution 1 100 watt 2 x 12 combo and when I got it new back in 2006 It was totally amazing. over the years I have loved the gain channel as it doesn't sound like any other amp. It has it's own sound and I love or loved it.
Today after many tube changes and recently just had it worked on by a professional very respected amp repair guy, I had all new tubes and the Bias set correctly.
The clean channel is still fender like clean and amazing but the gain channel I think has an issue or krank channel as they call it. What it's doing is it sounds like I'm playing through it when I just plug right into the front with no effects nothing in the loop weak. It has lost it's tightness. It sounds like I'm using some weak single coil pickups. The Gain doesn't ever get to where I remember it getting all by itself.
It doesn't have that thick huge tight chug sound anymore unless I put a tube screamer in front of it. Then it's back. You would have to hear the difference to understand what I'm saying unless you experienced it on your amp.
According to my amp repair guy, the amp is in tip top condition, uses top quality parts, is built very well and it's been a long time since he serviced a Krank and commented on how well they are built.
In 10 years of ownership of this amp I only every had one issue with it that Krank fixed under warranty. The Effects loop failed on me about 1 year in of owning it. I called them they sent me a head cabinet to put the head into for shipping and a box and took care of it. It's been good ever since. The amp always works and I change power tubes when I hear them get saggy and I replace the Preamp tubes every few years. They seem to last forever but I'm anal and just put new ones in as it makes me feel comfortable knowing they are fresh.
So what do you guys think?

 

[Darg1911]

Re: Krank amp users out there lets talk.

I was shocked by the difference preamp tubes made in a Peavey VK 112. Stock preamp tubes were EH 12AX7's. Experimented with some tube swapping ... I think JJ's. Gain was noticeably reduced to a degree that I've never experienced before. I eventually narrowed it down to one tube being most responsible for it (It may have been V2 in the Peavey). I then tried several different 12AX7's that I had on hand in that position. None produced the gain of the stock EH tube with the exception of some unlabeled Chinese tubes. Why it was surprising is because I would have expected the JJ to be higher gain than the EH. I figure Peavey either used selected EH tubes with a ton of gain. Or, it just happened to be a very high gain EH. I ended up leaving the stock tubes in that amp as I'm not a fan of EH 12AX7's and I rarely play the amp.

The point is that maybe the original preamp tubes in your amp were "hot" and what you replaced them with didn't have as much gain to the point of being as noticeable as in my case with the Peavey. Some tube dealers will offer pre-amp tubes that they test for highest gain. You could pick up a couple and try it. Worst case, you have some spare tubes.